The impact of hormones on your physical, emotional, and psychological development is significant. In fact, hormones play a crucial role in various functions of your body, such as regulating sleep, managing stress, maintaining alertness, and promoting happiness. Having a healthy balance of hormones is important for feeling and looking great - especially for women. Unfortunately, when hormone levels fluctuate, several adverse effects can manifest that affect your health and well-being.
One day, you wake up in the morning and attack the day with a smile on your face and a goal in your mind.
The next day, it feels like your emotions are all over the place. Despite sticking to a healthy diet, your weight keeps going up. To make matters worse, hot flashes seem to pop up out of nowhere, making you irritable both at work and at home. The simple truth is that life is hard for ladies after their 50th birthday. That's especially true when it seems like your body is plotting against you every day of the week.
If you're a middle-aged woman and you notice your body going through changes, you should know this is a natural process of aging. It's called menopause - and according to the National Institutes of Health, over a million women experience this transition per year. During this time, it's common for your hormones to start depleting. When that happens, you'll probably notice symptoms that can be challenging to deal with and overcome.
Take a moment and see if any of these signs sound familiar:
Trying to deal with hormone deficiency can be a big ordeal for women and their partners. Thankfully, going through menopause and getting older doesn't mean you have to settle for an undesirable life. Hormone replacement therapy in Belmont, NC addresses the hormonal imbalances in your body so you can get back to feeling normal. These clinically proven treatments are now available from Better Life Carolinas and can help women just like you reclaim the youthful vigor you're used to having.
Before we explore the many benefits of HRT for women, let's first look at two of the hormones that can fluctuate during menopause - progesterone and estrogen.
As a female, your reproductive health thrives on progesterone and estrogen. Made by your ovaries, these hormones play a major role in a range of functions, such as:
During your childbearing years, estrogen is responsible for preparing the lining of your uterus for a fertilized egg, while progesterone helps prepare and sustain the pregnancy once the egg has implanted. However, as you age, both of these hormones begin to decline, leading to a stage known as perimenopause, which occurs before menopause.
This transition period is characterized by significant changes in your body as it prepares for the next stage of life, where you can no longer bear children. Unfortunately, the years leading up to menopause can be extremely uncomfortable due to these hormonal fluctuations. That's where female HRT starts to make a lot of sense.
During menopause, many women opt for hormone replacement therapy. Menopause marks the end of the reproductive phase, and as you enter perimenopause, your estrogen and progesterone levels decline, and eventually, your body produces a fraction of the hormones it used to. This hormonal imbalance results in uncomfortable symptoms.
Hormone replacement therapy restores the depleted levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in your body, helping to alleviate the common symptoms of menopause and reducing the risk of long-term diseases. At Better Life Carolinas, our goal is to provide hormone replacement therapy that ensures healthy and balanced hormone levels for your overall wellness.
Maintaining hormone stability is crucial for women to live a healthy life. This is where Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) comes into play, as it helps in balancing the hormones that would otherwise get altered due to menopause.
At Better Life Carolinas, we recognize that every woman is unique, and, by extension, every patient is different. Therefore, our team of specialists and doctors offer personalized treatment options by combining holistic treatment, nutrition, fitness plans, and more to supplement our HRT treatments for women.
Many women wonder if HRT is the solution to their exhaustion, weight gain, and mood swings. It's hard to say if you're a good candidate for treatment without a comprehensive examination by an HRT expert at our clinic. What we can say is that when a woman's hormones are better balanced, she has a much better chance of enjoying life without the debilitating symptoms that other women experience. At Better Life Carolinas, that's our primary goal - to help you live a healthy life that you love.
Unlike some women's health clinics, money isn't our main motivator. Our HRT options aren't meant to keep you coming back for years and years. They have been developed to help provide your body with the balance it deserves through a patient-focused approach.
The Better Life program by Dr. Barber empowers patients with information about their health and wellness and, most importantly, puts in place a plan for the future. Most of us have a financial plan, but very few have a health plan. Our greatest asset is our health, and setting goals to manage our health plan is vital.
Better Life wants to partner with you to make the right choices for optimal health. For women going through menopause, hormone replacement therapy is often the best choice to reclaim your quality of life. Most of us know we need to lose weight, exercise, eat better, and quit smoking. Unfortunately, very few of us understand how to get out of the rut we tend to fall into. Our experienced team will design custom programs to empower you to make this life change for years to come.
One of the first and most frequently asked questions that our women's health doctors get usually focuses on the benefits of hormone replacement therapy. If you're trying to ease your way into menopause, chances are you're wondering about that too. When combined with healthy life choices like diet and exercise, we're happy to say that the benefits of HRT are both numerous and significant.
By now, this benefit probably sounds like a no-brainer, but it's one of the major advantages of HRT, so it's worth mentioning again. Menopause can often lead to uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, and difficulty sleeping. These symptoms can vary in intensity and can significantly impact your daily routine. Hormone replacement therapy is a treatment option that can help regulate estrogen and progesterone levels, thereby alleviating many of these symptoms.
While the most obvious benefit of HRT for women is relief from menopause symptoms, there's good evidence that suggests this treatment helps improve bone health, too. One study conducted on over 25,000 women aged 50-79 found that HRT reduced the risk of fractures. This benefit is especially important for women who had their uterus and ovaries removed before the age of 45 and experienced "surgical menopause." Such women are at a higher risk of bone loss and osteoporosis.
Your brain's ability to get energy from glucose, your body's primary fuel source, decreases during menopause due to a drop in estrogen levels. As a result, your brain switches to using fats (lipids) for fuel, which unfortunately leads to the harvesting of fat from the brain's white matter. This process produces ketones - chemicals created in the liver - to provide energy. However, starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) before reaching menopause can reduce the risk of this fuel switch and cut a woman's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in half.
As people age, their libido tends to decline, which is true for both men and women. For women, menopause can also cause vaginal dryness, which can make sexual intercourse less appealing. Hormone replacement therapy in Charleston can help boost your libido by restoring the levels of reproductive hormones in your body. When your reproductive hormones are balanced, you can get a boost in sex drive and alleviate problems like vaginal dryness.
As you approach menopause, you may notice that your weight tends to fluctuate more frequently. While this is a common occurrence as you age, it can make it difficult to shed extra pounds. Hormone replacement therapy isn't a magic solution for weight loss, but it can address the hormonal aspect of weight gain. Hormones can make it harder to maintain or lose weight, and hormone replacement therapy can help with that. By combining hormone replacement therapy with a healthy diet and regular exercise, you may be able to manage your weight more effectively and improve your overall health.
The benefits listed above are only a snapshot of what HRT can help you deal with and overcome. Contact Better Life Carolinas to learn about other advantages of hormone replacement treatment. But our women's health services don't end with HRT. Our doctors also provide several pain-free, non-surgical solutions for female intimacy problems.
We're talking about Femiwave Therapy, O Shot, and the Emsella Kegel Chair.
Are you ready to enjoy a normal sex life without having to rely on strange pills or invasive procedures? Femiwave therapy uses pulse waves to improve blood flow to the vaginal area without ever needing to go under the knife. This procedure enhances sensitivity, lubrication, tightens, strengthens, and improves the physical appearance of your vagina and the surrounding area. It has been shown to boost sexual satisfaction and function with no downtime, drugs, or lasers, and the results are long-lasting. The procedure is based on established shockwave therapy and has been backed by clinical studies for years to increase blood flow and restore healthy tissue.
Ideal candidates are women experiencing low libido, urinary incontinence, menopause symptoms such as painful intercourse and vaginal dryness, or women looking to improve their sex life. This procedure is quick and comfortable with no downtime, meaning you can swing by our office when it's best for your schedule and get treatment without disrupting your day.
Women in South Carolina use Femiwave therapy alongside hormone replacement therapy in Belmont, NC because it is:
While our male patients have enjoyed many benefits from our P-Shot (or Priapus Shot), we know that women deserve to enjoy some fun, too. Better Life Carolinas now provides a powerful treatment called the O-Shot (Orgasm shot) that can deliver incredible results for women. This simple procedure utilizes platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to stimulate new tissue growth, and as a woman's own PRP is used, the O-Shot is completely safe and free of side effects. The health benefits of the O-Shot are numerous, and a revitalized sex life is just one of them.
The O-Shot earned its name by increasing a woman's intensity during orgasm, but it is also a natural approach to treating the following:
The Emsella Chair is a breakthrough innovation for women experiencing urinary incontinence. This common issue affects over 15 million women in the US and can cause embarrassing leakages, loss of sleep, and poor work performance. The Emsella Chair offers a non-invasive solution to this problem without the need for surgery or medication.
The Emsella Chair is an FDA-approved device designed for patients who want to improve their quality of life by addressing the symptoms of urinary incontinence. Sometimes referred to as the "Kegel Throne," this comfortable chair is an excellent option for those who have tried other solutions like medication and surgery but found that they negatively impact their daily lives.
The Emsella Chair uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic technology (HIFEM) to stimulate contractions in your pelvic floor muscles. These contractions can help you regain control of your bladder and improve the strength of your pelvic floor muscles, much like kegel exercises but with greater efficiency. The Emsella Chair is unique in that it targets the entire pelvic floor with thousands of contractions per session, making it a highly effective treatment option for women.
While using the Emsella Chair, you may feel your pelvic floor muscles contracting. This is a normal reaction and indicates that the machine is functioning correctly. You might also experience a mild tingling sensation during the treatment, but it is not painful. After your session, you're free to resume regular daily activities without any downtime required. The best part is that, unlike surgery, there is no need for any medications to manage the pain or grogginess that usually comes after an invasive procedure.
The Emsella Chair is an excellent solution for women of all ages, but it is more commonly used by older women who tend to experience urinary incontinence. There are various symptoms related to urinary incontinence which can be effectively treated with the Emsella Chair.
Some of those symptoms include the following:
As thousands of women across the United States have said, our doctors can help you say "NO!" to urinary incontinence with Emsella Chair treatments.
At Better Life Carolinas, we're proud to be a partner on your path toward better wellness and healthy aging. Our team of women's health specialists and doctors provides constant encouragement, status checks, and recommendations to ensure that you receive personalized and ongoing medical management. We believe that receiving plenty of face-time and individual care from your personal physician is crucial to making a profound difference in your life - both now and in the future.
Whether you're approaching middle age or have already started menopause, our hormone replacement treatments could be an answer to your age management challenges. Contact our office today to learn more about the Better Life Carolinas difference and how our team provides the guidance you need to achieve a healthy life.
Get in touch with us today and let us help you achieve your goals!
Prepare for weeks of lane closures as a contractor does preliminary work on the first stretch of a $1.5 billion widening of Interstate 85 near Charlotte, state highway officials said Friday.Lane closures are scheduled to begin Sunday night near the I-85 bridge over the South Fork Catawba River, just north of McAdenville in Gaston County, officials said.Closures will allow engineers to “begin a geotechnical investigation” for the first, $337 million stretch of widening, according to a North Carolina Department of Tra...
Prepare for weeks of lane closures as a contractor does preliminary work on the first stretch of a $1.5 billion widening of Interstate 85 near Charlotte, state highway officials said Friday.
Lane closures are scheduled to begin Sunday night near the I-85 bridge over the South Fork Catawba River, just north of McAdenville in Gaston County, officials said.
Closures will allow engineers to “begin a geotechnical investigation” for the first, $337 million stretch of widening, according to a North Carolina Department of Transportation news release.
Engineers will learn through the investigation what’s under the road surface, officials said. The findings will be used to help design a wider bridge, according to the state.
“Starting Sunday night, the right lane of I-85 North near the bridge will close from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., continuing through Friday morning, depending on the contractor’s progress,” according to an NCDOT news release on Tuesday.
The right lane closure was originally expected to continue through Thursday.
NCDOT awarded the $337 million contract to Lane Construction Corp. this year for the first segment of the project, which includes:
• An additional lane in each direction from N.C. 7 Exit 23 to N.C. 273 Exit 27).
• Fixing or replacing the bridge and several others along the route.
• Improvements to interchanges to lessen congestion.
The first stretch of widening is under design, and construction is “likely to begin” next summer, according to NCDOT.
The initial stretch spans four congested, wreck-prone miles of Interstate 85, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Lane Construction Corp. will widen I-85 from six to eight lanes, with a 26-foot median between N.C. 7 exit 23 in Mount Holly and N.C. 273 exit 27 near the Catawba River in Belmont, according to NCDOT.
Bridges to be replaced or improved are on N.C. 7 over I-85; I-85 over the South Fork Catawba River; Hickory Grove Road over I-85; Belmont-Mt. Holly Road/Main Street over I-85; P&R Railway over I-85, east of Belmont-Mt. Holly Road; and N.C. 273 over I-85.
The intersection of N.C. 7/U.S. 29/U.S. 74 (Wilkinson Boulevard) will be redesigned to reduce wrecks, according to NCDOT.
NCDOT eventually plans to expand the interstate to U.S. 321 in Gastonia, totaling about 10 miles of widening and other improvements.
In late 2028, the department intends to advertise for bids on the segment from McAdenville Road exit 23 to the U.S. 321 interchange exit 17, officials said.
The intersection of Cox Road and U.S. 29-74/Franklin Boulevard will be improved.
A contractor and designer are working on plans for three railroad bridges and a roadway bridge through the section.
NCDOT first revealed plans for the 10-mile widening in August 2022.
It's not just people that recognize Amy Bossard when she frequents local farmers markets ― dogs do too, and for good reason. Bossard operates Simply American Dog Treats, a food truck that sells dog and cat treats."I am a destination business," Bossard said. "No day is ever the same. I love meeting my customers."Bossard opened her business in July 2018, and since then, it's taken off. She sells dog treats at the Belmont Farmers Market, as well as other farmers markets in both North and South Carolina....
It's not just people that recognize Amy Bossard when she frequents local farmers markets ― dogs do too, and for good reason. Bossard operates Simply American Dog Treats, a food truck that sells dog and cat treats.
"I am a destination business," Bossard said. "No day is ever the same. I love meeting my customers."
Bossard opened her business in July 2018, and since then, it's taken off. She sells dog treats at the Belmont Farmers Market, as well as other farmers markets in both North and South Carolina.
"It started out as a tent, kind of a pop-up," she said. "And has had several different iterations and several different trucks. This will be the final."
Bossard has worked in the pet industry for years, "and this was just something fun that I've always wanted to do," she said. "It's important to me to give my dogs really good, healthy treats, so I wanted to share that with my customers."
Bossard has four dogs, a Labrador retriever mix, two schnauzer mixes, and a yorkie-poo.
Bossard said that dogs know where to find her at the farmers markets she frequents.
"And they get upset if I'm not in the same spot, because they can't find me," she said.
Bossard makes treats from sweet potatoes, ostrich liver, beef liver, pork liver, chicken liver, dehydrated chicken feet, and pig ears. She gets her meat from local farmers.
"If you come over, don't open my freezer," she said, laughing.
Her recipes are a secret. She has a trademark pending on "livermutt" dog treats, made mostly of livermush, "but dog tummy friendly," she said.
She hopes to have a brick-and-mortar shop sometime in the future.
"But right now, I'm really happy with how the farmers market business model is working," she said.
Owner Alex Hostetler plans to spotlight diverse food truck concepts and give small operators a platform to grow.BELMONT, NC — A new outdoor dining destination is on its way to downtown Belmont. Food Truck Alley, a curated food truck park from local owner Alex Hostetler, is taking shape at 2 Airline St, Belmont, NC 28012. Hostetler told Business Debut the venue is expected to open before the end of the year.Food Truck Alley will be a fully outdoor venue featuring six semi-permanent food truck vendors&mdash...
Owner Alex Hostetler plans to spotlight diverse food truck concepts and give small operators a platform to grow.
BELMONT, NC — A new outdoor dining destination is on its way to downtown Belmont. Food Truck Alley, a curated food truck park from local owner Alex Hostetler, is taking shape at 2 Airline St, Belmont, NC 28012. Hostetler told Business Debut the venue is expected to open before the end of the year.
Food Truck Alley will be a fully outdoor venue featuring six semi-permanent food truck vendors—three on each side of a central communal space. The middle area will include picnic tables, artificial turf, string lights, and likely some sun shades to create a casual, open-air atmosphere for guests.
There is potential in the future to add a bar to the site, but the plans are still pending approval, and the focus is to debut the food trucks as soon as possible.
Hostetler said the goal is to curate a diverse lineup of food options without overlap. “I want every vendor to be unique. If someone’s doing ice cream, they’ll be the only one doing ice cream,” he said. Vendor selection has not yet begun, but is expected to start in the coming months.
Beyond the food, Hostetler emphasized that Food Truck Alley is designed to serve as a community space. “At the end of the day, I just wanted to make it all about the community and create something that’s of great value for the community,” he told Business Debut.
He also noted that the park may act as an incubator for small operators. “I'm hoping also that they can probably act a little bit as an incubator and get people exposed to the community in Belmont. The local community is a really vibrant and strong community and it's also one that really loves to go out to eat," Hostetler said.
An individual food truck previously served açaí on the lot that Hostetler purchased for the park, and he reported that they expanded into a brick and mortar location nearby. Hostetler aims to enable more upcoming food trucks to do the same.
The team is targeting an opening before the end of the year, with construction work wrapping up shortly after final city approval.
Hostetler said hours are not finalized but will likely include lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Halloween is right around the corner and children are picking out costumes. For families looking for candy-filled events this season, here is a look at some trunk-or-treat opportunities for kids and other fall festivals happening in Gaston in coming weeks.Trunk-or-treatOther city-sponsored eventsBessemer City’s Creepy Crawl, which is set to take place from 1-6 p.m. Oct. 26, on West Virginia Avenue. It will include vendors, drinks from Stardust Cellars Meadery, live music from artists World Sauntering Day and Th...
Halloween is right around the corner and children are picking out costumes. For families looking for candy-filled events this season, here is a look at some trunk-or-treat opportunities for kids and other fall festivals happening in Gaston in coming weeks.
Bessemer City’s Creepy Crawl, which is set to take place from 1-6 p.m. Oct. 26, on West Virginia Avenue. It will include vendors, drinks from Stardust Cellars Meadery, live music from artists World Sauntering Day and The Raven & The Road, and a ghost tour from 5-6 p.m.
Cherryville’s “Scaryville” will include a costume contest with a $500 cash prize, “ghostly” hayrides, a beer garden and a pumpkin play area for children from 6-10 p.m. Oct. 17. In the city’s downtown.
Halloween Fest, which will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Citizens Resource Center at Dallas Park, 1303 Dallas-Cherryville Hwy. in Dallas. It will include candy, games, a costume contest and activities.
Break out some dancing shoes for Lowell's adult Boo-goe Night, which will include music and dancing. Costumes are encouraged. The event costs $5 to enter.
Some local businesses are also hosting Halloween parties, spooky story times and more. Here is a look at some of those events:
Traust Brewing
Vampyre's Ball 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, at 128 S. Main St. in Mount Holly.
Daniel Stowe Conservancy
Spookeasy at Farmhouse from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 17.
Cars Coffee: Trunk-or-Treat from 8:30-10 a.m. Oct. 19.
Moonlight Series: Campfire Spooky Stories from 6:30-8 p.m. Oct. 24
Bootanical event from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 19. Children in costume get in free. All events take place at 6500 S. New Hope Road in Belmont.
The Rooster
Shocktober Halloween Bash 6-11:30 p.m. Oct. 31, at 334 W. Main Ave. in Gastonia.
Primal Brewery
Halloween Bash 6-11 p.m. Oct. 31, at 52 Ervin St. in Belmont.
Summit Beer
Halloween Bash from 7-11 p.m. Oct. 31, at 122 S. Main St. in Mount Holly.
Confluence
Halloween Party from 7-11 p.m. Oct. 31, on Center St. in Cramerton.
Kates Skating Rink
Halloween sip & skate from 8-11 p.m. Oct. 31, at 1151 Skating Rink Drive in Gastonia.
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